I know this was discussed a lot during and after the Spirit of Nysa CG, probably some people are sick of hearing about it. Others may not have been aware of it though and I would like to try and present a case now the dust has settled, as I still feel quite strongly about this and I know many others who do also. I am also worried about the precedent this sets for the future of the multiplayer ecosystem.
For clarity/background:
I finished the AX CG in the top 10% and am consequently the ashamed owner of a double-modded C5 FSD, with Increased Range and Fast Boot. The primary effect of the latter mod is not particularly useful outside of some very specific combat scenarios, but it does come with its own minor optimal mass buff, stacking with the other mod bringing the total to +76.5% OM* (with mass manager) over the +61.2% OM achievable with a standard Increased Range module. It's a very good FSD, allowing significantly greater jump ranges in all C5 FSD ships (Kraits, AspX, Python etc). It's not the first reward of its kind, a hi-cap, lightweight missile rack preceeded it a few CGs before, but the FSD garnered more attention because it has a broader appeal.
I'm writing primarily because I feel my participation in the CG may have contributed to statistics showing Frontier this was a successful event - which I'm sure it was in terms of participation - but I strongly disapprove of using FOMO to fluff player numbers, and I strongly disapprove of granting a tiny subset of players who happened to be available on one weekend a superpowered module that is otherwise unobtainable in this multiplayer game. I participated to shoot aliens and I don't want to tacitly support this manipulative, slippery-slope reward scheme.
Why is it bad?:
Although many people play Elite as if it were a single player game, and are justified in doing so, it is a multiplayer game. We share the space and even when not competing directly via combat, explorers are out trying to break records or people are working the BGS, Powerplay etc. PvP players organise duels and tournaments in an increasingly imbalanced environment. Introducing hard gated supermodules to this ecosystem is provocative and unfair. It might not seem like such a big deal to casual players but this game has a dedicated following of fans who take it, and their performance within it, seriously.
Here's a list of people who wouldn't have got the SuperFSD:
The list goes on, and this is on top of those who were just unable to reach the required tier of the rewards scheme for whatever reason, those dumb scrubs didn't deserve one anyway, amirite!?
Now, yes some will say they personally 'worked hard' for the module (it wasn't hard, I killed like, ~6 interceptors, get over yourselves) this is a strange turn of phrase to use about a videogame, but also doesn't hold water as a justification. It relied on them being none of the above things for that week and also says nothing about how hard newer players may try in the future to improve their game, without being able to obtain the time-limited modules.You're We're not special, you we were just available at the right stage of the game at the right time.
It also just makes people of a certain mindset feel bad either because they missed out on something powerful in a game they care about, or arm-twisted into participating in something due to FOMO rather than any real joy in the doing. I feel this is an ethically dubious thing for game designers to do.
My Big Worry:
For me the big worry is that Frontier will perceive this reward scheme as a success and continue to do it with potentially more disruptive modules. Arguably, for most bubble-centric players a few extra LY and a bit more resistance against Grombombs isn't going to drastically change the face of the gameworld, but how long will it be until we get Overcharged + Long Range Plasma or Thermal Resistance + Reinforced Shielding. This would land us right back in a 2.1-esque legacy godroll class system nightmare that was the source of so many complaints, and cost Frontier a lot of time in revising. Please Don't Do This Again. This is a multiplayer game with a lot of passionate players, stop carving numerical gulfs between them and let skill and saavy be the deciding factor.
Alternatives:
TL;DR: I did a CG and got a super-duper amazing FSD that I don't want and I'm p. darn miffed about it. (edit: this is a joke misinterpretation of the post above, stop being lazy)
*edit: in practice this +76.5% amounts to about a 6ly range buff on an exploration Phantom over standard. I'm sure explorers reading will appreciate how significant a number this is over longer hauls.
For clarity/background:
I finished the AX CG in the top 10% and am consequently the ashamed owner of a double-modded C5 FSD, with Increased Range and Fast Boot. The primary effect of the latter mod is not particularly useful outside of some very specific combat scenarios, but it does come with its own minor optimal mass buff, stacking with the other mod bringing the total to +76.5% OM* (with mass manager) over the +61.2% OM achievable with a standard Increased Range module. It's a very good FSD, allowing significantly greater jump ranges in all C5 FSD ships (Kraits, AspX, Python etc). It's not the first reward of its kind, a hi-cap, lightweight missile rack preceeded it a few CGs before, but the FSD garnered more attention because it has a broader appeal.
I'm writing primarily because I feel my participation in the CG may have contributed to statistics showing Frontier this was a successful event - which I'm sure it was in terms of participation - but I strongly disapprove of using FOMO to fluff player numbers, and I strongly disapprove of granting a tiny subset of players who happened to be available on one weekend a superpowered module that is otherwise unobtainable in this multiplayer game. I participated to shoot aliens and I don't want to tacitly support this manipulative, slippery-slope reward scheme.
Why is it bad?:
Although many people play Elite as if it were a single player game, and are justified in doing so, it is a multiplayer game. We share the space and even when not competing directly via combat, explorers are out trying to break records or people are working the BGS, Powerplay etc. PvP players organise duels and tournaments in an increasingly imbalanced environment. Introducing hard gated supermodules to this ecosystem is provocative and unfair. It might not seem like such a big deal to casual players but this game has a dedicated following of fans who take it, and their performance within it, seriously.
Here's a list of people who wouldn't have got the SuperFSD:
- Anyone who wasn't available that week due to IRL constraints.
- Anyone who was exploring during this CG.
- Anyone who bases out of Colonia.
- Anyone who didn't read the CG smallprint and justifiably opted to do something else.
- Anyone who did read the small print of the CG but didn't consider that the two mods would stack to create a longer range FSD.
- Anyone who bought the game at any point after the CG.
The list goes on, and this is on top of those who were just unable to reach the required tier of the rewards scheme for whatever reason, those dumb scrubs didn't deserve one anyway, amirite!?
Now, yes some will say they personally 'worked hard' for the module (it wasn't hard, I killed like, ~6 interceptors, get over yourselves) this is a strange turn of phrase to use about a videogame, but also doesn't hold water as a justification. It relied on them being none of the above things for that week and also says nothing about how hard newer players may try in the future to improve their game, without being able to obtain the time-limited modules.
It also just makes people of a certain mindset feel bad either because they missed out on something powerful in a game they care about, or arm-twisted into participating in something due to FOMO rather than any real joy in the doing. I feel this is an ethically dubious thing for game designers to do.
My Big Worry:
For me the big worry is that Frontier will perceive this reward scheme as a success and continue to do it with potentially more disruptive modules. Arguably, for most bubble-centric players a few extra LY and a bit more resistance against Grombombs isn't going to drastically change the face of the gameworld, but how long will it be until we get Overcharged + Long Range Plasma or Thermal Resistance + Reinforced Shielding. This would land us right back in a 2.1-esque legacy godroll class system nightmare that was the source of so many complaints, and cost Frontier a lot of time in revising. Please Don't Do This Again. This is a multiplayer game with a lot of passionate players, stop carving numerical gulfs between them and let skill and saavy be the deciding factor.
Alternatives:
- The idea of giving out modules for a CG isn't bad in principle. You could reward sets of modules that are achievable within the game - people would still be happy to have another way to earn them.
- You could elicit ship builds from the community and reward those with low rebuys.
- You could continue with cosmetic rewards instead of performance rewards, which is the good principle behind Elite's ARX store, no pay-to-win is a good policy.
- Increase the credit rewards - as you may have noticed by now people love a goldrush, use it!
- Other stuff, I dunno, make suggestion.
TL;DR: I did a CG and got a super-duper amazing FSD that I don't want and I'm p. darn miffed about it. (edit: this is a joke misinterpretation of the post above, stop being lazy)
*edit: in practice this +76.5% amounts to about a 6ly range buff on an exploration Phantom over standard. I'm sure explorers reading will appreciate how significant a number this is over longer hauls.
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